Biography
“Exit Weekly” 9.20.06
By Amy Kuperinsky
Myrtle Ave. is on a mission to bring "something fresh" to Jersey with each house party and gig.
The band wanted to "do whatever we could to change the music scene because it was getting really stale," said Evan Vellis, bassist. "It seems like it's just kind of stagnating right now. Emo music never got questioned - it's what's available."
The four guys from Butler were raised on 311 and Sublime, and want to bring the sound of the glory days of hip-hop and reggae-infused rock back.
"I was a hip-hop head my whole life," said lead vocalist Mike Kennedy, 19, better known as "Hoops." He grew up listening to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, A Tribe Called Quest, later on gravitating towards 311, Sublime and Slightly Stoopid.
"We're pretty much like a party band," said Kennedy. "I think we have the best advantage in Jersey right now, everything's emo. At a party, no one wants to put on a Hawthorne Heights record and jam out."
The band recorded its debut album "Jersey's Finest" in Dover.
With its varied influences, including 19-year-old guitarist Jordan Halliday's beginnings in a punk band and Kennedy's self-professed role as a rapper, Myrtle Ave. maintains it's all about a happy mingling conducive to jamming.
"Hoops is all about hip-hop and he gives that vibe, Jordan gives the reggae vibe, it's everyone's influences put into one on stage," said drummer Mike Bellew, 19.
And it's that fusion sound that's catching the interest of some bigger names.
Myrtle Ave. netted a Jamaican connection with reggae and ska artist Mr. Mutton, who members met at a Slightly Stoopid show at Irving Plaza. He came to the band's studio and laid down a few good verses on the track "Who Knows," a feel-good jam in which a chorus proclaims "Jersey and Jamaica is the positive way."
"It was cool to have someone who's recorded a lot of music before," said Vellis, with Mr. Mutton's record company connected to Sublime's label.
"Me and Mutton became really good friends - he said he never really met a white kid that could rap," Kennedy said. "It was hilarious, it was a really good time."
The group heard Steel Pulse was coming to the Stone Pony and wanted to find a way to get in on the show. "The only way they would have a local band open would be to listen to the music and personally approve it," said Vellis. It was a go when Myrtle Ave. submitted its music for consideration to Steel Pulse. "I think it's absolutely amazing by some miracle they actually approved us," he said.
"They're mentioned in the same breath as Toots and the Maytals, Bob Marley," said Vellis of Steel Pulse. "These guys are reggae legends. It's really an honor that we're playing with them."
True to its roots, the group never shies away from repping Jersey in its songs.
"We're not really trying to be like white boy reggae, we're more gritty and trying to be like Dirty Jerz style," said Halliday. He and Vellis grew up on Myrtle Avenue in Butler. Lyrics are grounded in the usual affairs of suburbia, whether partying, or loving or boarding.
"Songs about what we did this weekend, songs that are mad serious, about friendship and growing up around here, that's pretty much every song," said Kennedy. "We're not into complaining when we write songs or listen to music. When you're from the suburbs and have a great life, what do you have to complain about?"
"I just think we're proud of where we came from," said Bellew. "Bob Marley was proud of where he came from."
"We got that Jersey swagger," said Kennedy, who sports a tattoo of New Jersey with a microphone on his leg. "Our style, I would say it's heavily reggae influenced, but at the same time people can say we're a hip-hop band, a rap band, it's not really like any other band I've heard."
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